Imagine you and your friend are enjoying a nice sunny day, and BAM — they start to have a severe allergic reaction to who knows what. You have an EpiPen, but your friend is on the other side of a field! The solution? Obviously [Emily The Engineer] has only one option: build an entire EpiPen launcher!
Starting off the life-saving project, [Emily] prototyped with a 3D printed blank and a simple solenoid-controlled glorified potato cannon. This proved effective, as one would expect of such a project after successful tests on a human subject. However, there was one simple problem: what if you missed your initial shot?
To ensure no possible failed missions, a bolt-action magazine was retrofitted onto the device. Additionally, an air compressor placed in a mobile backpack carrier allows for repeated mobile use. Official testing was done on ballistic gel before a “war game” scenario played out involving an anaphylactic friend. As one would assume, this went perfectly, ignoring the time delay of having to wait for the compressor to build up enough pressure…
Anyways, even if you won’t be using this EpiPen launcher anytime soon, there are some actual DIY medical miracles you can look into! Something that’s a tad less insane to hack together than an EpiPen gun would be a splint. That is exactly what you can learn about here!
Better have good aim
I remember in 2016 we found out our 1 year old was wicked reactive to anything containing eggs. Our doctor strongly suggested getting an epi pen, and our insurance balked at the idea and would not cover it.
That 1 pen was over 300$ if I wanted to pay for it outright, and this dink is using them for nerf darts.
My wife has one (allergic to melon).
There are coupon programs if you live in the US
there are other epinephrine auutoinjectors which do the same thing for a much lower cost due to not being patentable
Your insurance company are cheap bastards.
4.The pens have a use-by date, after which you should replace them.
May I introduce you to the Four Thieves Vinegar Collective’s printable Epipencil?
https://fourthievesvinegar.org/2022/07/12/introducing-the-epipencil/
While i get the sentiment, I would not trust the life of my child with some rando-remedy from the internet. I consider myself lucky that i don’t live in the USA.
The use-by date in artificially short (12-18 months). Studies found they are still effective 4 years past that date.
They are only about 50 euros in the civilized world
I suspect that the vast majority of the cost is for quality control and liability insurance.
They are expired. It is stated in the video. From a friend that requires them.
Expired and several empty demonstration units too.
From the wording I’m guessing that’s the usual USD predatory pricing.
Get a passport. Take a drive north (or south). <US$100 ea. at any drugstore. No prescription needed.
Lol its the US the closest border is like 3 days away by car
That’s an odd sort of routing then, since you can drive I-5 from Canada to Mexico in less than 24 hours. Or Detroit to New Orleans in 16 hours, or Bangor, ME to Orlando in 22 hours.
You’ve got to be in some serious backcountry (or be terrible at navigating) to be more than 16 hours drive from an international border in the US, even with potty breaks.
Isn’t it legendary how Americans are used to long drives?
Emily is the dangerous friend we all need around.
How big is this field?
If Lord Sickly can’t be arsed to carry his own epipen I can’t be arsed to carry this contraption.
Drone, duct tape, done.
The real promise of this gadget is that, while your friend goes and plays with the bees’ nest, you can technically be helping . . . while remaining on the other side of the field.
The real promise of this gadget is that, while your friend goes and plays with the bees’ nest, you can technically be helping . . . while remaining on the other side of the field.
Human porcupine …
Of note, when using an epi-pen, you need to press and hold the pen into the thigh of the person having the allergic reaction. Name brand ones only need a couple seconds and clicks when the injection is complete, but the simpler tube type needs 10 seconds of press-and-hold and does not audibly click when finished
Honestly, I’d just hold on for dear life until the paramedics pry it out of my hands at that point.
While I know you have to press and hold for most auto injectors. The child in me, who watched way too many Wile E. Coyote cartoons, wants this thing to fire primed injectors that dump the full dose on impact. Similar to the dosing air rifles used by vets on herds of cattle.
Patient: “BEES! I need my pen!”
Friend: “Fire in the hole!”
Patient: “Wha-” WHAM. Anaphylaxis delayed.
Friend: calls 911 while putting another tick mark on their pen launcher.
Patient: gets up screaming as they run away, breathing, but with a fin-stabilized horse needle jutting out of their ribs.
Sounds like commentary using the proposal someone made not to control guns, but to just make the bullets really expensive.
That was Chris Rock. =D It’s not a bad idea. Might save 3D printing since I would imagine a bullet would be harder to print than a gun due to required dimensions.
Which was determined to be a violation of the 2A as well.
I remember seeing an episode of the Prairie Farm Report decades ago where a guy did a pole mounted syringe that allowed him to give cattle shots from a distance. This could have a similar application.
“It costs four hundred thousand dollars to fire this weapon…for twelve seconds.”
-Heavy
Damn i was to slow
‘Maximum sealage’. Nice !
I’ll write this for the HaD audience:
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Epi pens- I guess I “understand” why they are expensive but that is nonsense. All it does is inject epinephrine 300 mcg. People have been injecting themselves with insulin for ages. And now injecting themselves with prescribed or bootleg GLP1s as well just fine without autoinjectors.
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In the drawer I have a simple 1mg vial of epinephrine and a TB syringe AKA insulin syringe. Pending anaphylaxis? Draw up 0.3 mL, inject. Done. Can repeat dose 2x more. Total cost is like $2. They expire every couple years or so, so total cost is like $1/year. Free basically.
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But where can I get such things? Every drawer of meds in every ER, every OR, probably every doctor’s office has 1mg vials of epinephrine (I work in a hospital, not an outpatient office). If someone has allergies bad enough to need an EpiPen, I would simply ask for a couple of vials from the doctor and a couple insulin syringes. If you have allergies bad enough to need epi, take the 1 minute and learn how a regular old needle works for injecting stuff. It isn’t hard. In fact, maybe learn it like your life depends on it.
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Finally, someone is gonna say “but when you are having an allergic reaction you don’t have time to..” blah blah. Again, take the 1 minute to learn how to draw up a med. It can be done really fast and also- if you’re saying that I promise you haven’t seen someone in anaphylaxis or you don’t have loved ones with significant allergies. It isn’t instant. It actually takes a few minutes to get “bad” and also people with allergies know straight away they ate something iffy and can see it coming. They have been there before.
For the truly allergic:
It looks like zipline is now also operational in a few US states. There may be similar services in other parts of the world, but I have not looked into that.
https://www.zipline.com/
What happens to a zombie if you shoot it with an epipen launcher?